Illini Bluffs Middle School students sing at last year’s Gerald M. Brookhart Arts in Education Spring Celebration. The five-week event will showcase more than 10,000 students from schools in seven counties weekdays at the Peoria County Courthouse Plaza through May 19. (Photo courtesy of the Gerald M. Brookhart Arts in Education Spring Celebration)

Spring in Peoria brings food carts and the annual Gerald M. Brookhart Arts in Education Spring Celebration to the area around the Peoria County Courthouse.

This is the 32nd year for the five-week long Spring Celebration, which kicked off last week on the Courthouse Plaza under the coordination of Peoria County Regional Superintendent Beth Derry and Project Director Mary Rous.

The celebration will continue through May 19, bringing more than 10,000 students from about 100 schools to downtown Peoria to showcase their talent with band music, singing, dancing, drama, speech and artwork.

The free entertainment takes place on three stages running concurrently from 11 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. weekdays. In the case of inclement weather, the performances move to Northwoods Mall.

The Gerald M. Brookhart Arts in Education Spring Celebration not only showcases performance arts but also features exhibits and demonstrations, including painting, drawing, collage, photography and woodworking. (Photo courtesy of the Gerald M. Brookhart Arts in Education Spring Celebration)

In addition to the performances, art exhibits and demonstrations will feature painting, drawing, collage, ceramics, metal works, fiber arts, weaving, photography, woodworking, drafting, horticulture, agriculture, home economics, food and clothing.

“It’s a good opportunity to perform for an audience that’s not necessarily parents and grandparents,” said Pekin Grade School District 108 band director Katherine Janssen, who’s bringing her Intermediate Band of sixth graders to perform this year.

“The students really enjoy it. Some of them have relatives or friends that work in downtown Peoria and they make a lunch date for that day. Others attend the

A school group performs on the Peoria County Courthouse Plaza during last year’s Gerald M. Brookhart Arts in Education Spring Celebration. The 32nd annual event kicked off last week and will feature free entertainment and art exhibits by school kids from 11 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. weekdays through May 19. (Photo courtesy of the Gerald M. Brookhart Arts in Education Spring Celebration)

concert because they can’t make it to our nighttime concerts. We eat after we perform, hopefully getting to hear a group after us perform,” she added.

Playing outdoors also offers a new experience for the sixth graders. “It sounds different,” Janssen said. “Sometimes it’s difficult to hear the other players as well as you do inside. There’s blowing music, the sun in your eyes so you can’t see the conductor, or perhaps you have to wear your coat because it’s so chilly.”

Chris Delbridge, vocal and orchestra director for Princeville Junior/Senior High School, has been bringing students to the Spring Celebration for the 10 years that he’s been a music teacher, having taught at Spoon River Valley and St. Philomena’s before moving to Princeville eight years ago.

“It’s a great event as it not only brings awareness to the importance of fine arts education to the general public, but it gives the kids a great opportunity to show off their hard work in an arena other than their school auditorium or gymnasium,” Delbridge said. “For me, it’s always a great opportunity to broaden

our audience. It’s exciting to show people outside of our little community that there are very talented students at small rural schools as well as the bigger schools.”

The Spring Celebration began in 1986 with a weeklong showcase of 1,000 students from 12 Peoria County schools. The event has grown to now include schools from seven counties: Peoria, Tazewell, Woodford, Marshall, Fulton, Henry and McLean.

The Peoria County Regional Office of Education renamed the event in 2014 to honor then-retiring longtime Regional Superintendent Gerry Brookhart. It was Brookhart’s vision and hard work 32 years ago that established the Spring Celebration, Rous said. Brookhart still supports the event as a volunteer, mentor and sponsor.

“Fine arts in education are far more reaching than just choir, band and orchestra,” Rous said. “Classroom plays, dance, readers theater, spring musicals and writing classes, just to name a few, are all part of what we would love to showcase at the GMB Spring Celebration. The community looks forward to this program every year.”

Among schools that travel a good distance to perform at the Spring Celebration are Lewistown and Henry-Senachwine. Tri-Valley High School in Downs will be attending for the first time, and Peoria Christian School and Delavan High School are returning after not participating for a few years, Rous said.

At noon on Friday, April 28, the Spring Celebration will recognize International Jazz Day with a special performance by Todd Kelly and his Bradley University Jazz Ensemble on the Monument stage. April 30 was officially designated International Jazz Day in 2011 by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization “to highlight jazz and its diplomatic role of uniting people in all corners of the globe,” according to the event’s website at www.jazzday.com.

The Spring Celebration is also continuing its collaboration this year with Sculpture Walk Peoria. Free educational coloring books are available to schools for use in the classroom. A representative of Sculpture Walk Peoria will be at the Spring Celebration May 12 to promote the 2018 sculptures.

Sculpture Walk Peoria is an initiative of ArtsPartners of Central Illinois designed to enhance appreciation for the arts and educate the community about the value of the arts via outdoor, public art pieces in the Peoria Warehouse District.

Volunteers are still needed to help the Spring Celebration run smoothly.

“We need volunteers to greet the arriving students and teachers and guide them to the stages, and also to direct the audience to staging areas,” Rous said. Another way for the community to help is by financially sponsoring a stage for a day.

For more information, including a schedule of performances, visit the website at www.springcelebration.org or email Mary Rous at mrousarts@gmail.com.